


your heart is full of stars and your hands full of shattered glass

by victoriousscarf



Category: Rogue One: A Star Wars Story (2016), Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Original Trilogy
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Death Star, Force sensitive Bodhi, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Mind Rape, Mindfuck, Multi, Sith, Sith Leia Organa, Sith Luke Skywalker, being a sith is really no fun and no games, everyone in space is gay!, i'm going with a mature rating to be on the safe side right now, picks up in the middle of rouge one, referenced child death, timeline goes way divergent after that, warnings subject to addition
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-02
Updated: 2018-05-28
Packaged: 2019-02-27 06:15:08
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,791
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13242183
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/victoriousscarf/pseuds/victoriousscarf
Summary: Nineteen years ago, Vader took his children off Mustafar, and Palpatine raised them to be Sith, the perfect weapons he had been looking for.Except the very eve of his greatest victory, the fully functional Death Star, Luke Skywalker defects to the floundering but growing Rebel Alliance. His sister follows because someone needs to watch out for that fool.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [LuTBC](https://archiveofourown.org/users/LuTBC/gifts), [Meddalarksen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Meddalarksen/gifts).



> Sooooo I was reading a variety of Sith!Au posts (particularly [this one](http://midnightfuckingmayor.tumblr.com/post/142978190170/star-wars-au-i-just-thought-of-luke-and-leia). And I spent the last like two weeks yelling at anyone who would listen about this story and finally decided to greet the new year with actually writing it. 
> 
> So. 
> 
> Here we go

It wasn't mediation because there was nothing calming about it.

But Luke Skywalker often found himself floating in front of a Star Destroyer's view screen, legs crossed and his eyes closed. There was no silence in his head though, only the constant sound of screaming, the grind of metal lumbering through space, and the creeping sensation of something unpleasant at all the edges of his mind.

Yet somehow he would find himself sitting there, suspended in the air for hours anyway.

He couldn't even say if he was seeking for something, or just doing it because he knew it reeked too much of Jedi ways and his father and the emperor's annoyed looks were one of the few rebellions he allowed himself.

Sinking further into the screaming sound, he didn't have to open his eyes or turn to realize someone else had walked into the room.

“Father,” he greeted, bringing himself back to the present, his hearing coming back to normal.

The steady rasp of his father's breathing greeted him. “Luke.”

“I thought you were going back to Mustafar,” Luke said, still not turning.

“Soon,” Darth Vader said, and he was approaching. “There is no peace for a Sith in mediation,” he said and Luke turned as he came up beside him. “Why do you keep engaging in such a practice?”

“Because it bothers you,” Luke said and Vader was silent for a long moment.

“There has been trouble,” Vader said, both father and son looking at the stars in front of them. “The pilot defecting and Jedha could only be the beginning. This rebellion is getting daring, their agents more obvious.”

“You don't think the destruction of a holy city would be enough to deter them?” Luke asked, cocking his head to one side insolently, a laugh in his voice. “Wasn't that the entire point of the death star?”

“It's point is destruction,” Vader said.

“You're right,” Luke said. “The emperor is not known for being careful with his toys, or disinclined to preserve if he can tear something down.”

Vader looked at him, the lines of his helmet completely impassive. “He is our master.”

“Of course,” Luke said, easy, like the words weren't broken glass in his mouth. “But a peace loving man he has never been. In some hands that weapon would be a deterrence. In his? It will be a bludgeon, slapping down anyone who speaks against him.”

“He has many weapons for such uses,” Vader said. “Including ones he could use on _you_.”

“Have I ever given him reason to believe I would need such a tactic?” Luke asked, falsely sweet and his father only stared at him, through his reddened lenses.

“We have captured rebel agents,” he said finally instead and Luke tilted his head the other way, suddenly interested. “They were found on Coruscant itself. You are to help interrogate them.”

“Under your supervision I presume?”

“I am going back to Mustafar,” Vader said. “It's Palpatine himself who will be watching you.”

And somehow Luke found himself laughing, because he was nineteen years old and he might as well.

-0-

Walking into the emperor's presence always felt like being doused in ice cold water, full of leeches. Luke would watch the Moffs and the senators interact with him and wonder if one had to be strongly force sensitive to notice it, or if everyone else was as good of a liar as he was. Perhaps Palpatine shielded himself from others, and simply didn't bother around his apprentices.

Now he stood in front of the man, hands clasped behind his back and reminding himself over and over that he was on Coruscant which meant he would be seeing Leia again soon, after they had been separated for several months. The emperor had called the battle on Mon Calamari a disaster but the twins had pointed out no rebels had survived.

It had earned them an enforced separation.

“Most of the agents caught have already been broken,” Palpatine said, sitting on his throne.

“What would you like me to do then?” Luke asked, back straight and for once on his best behavior, because Leia would be on the other side of it.

“One of them has been very resistant,” Palpatine said. “His mind will require a special touch.”

Luke considered him, one brow raised.

“I thought it would be good practice,” Palpatine said with a cold smile and Luke only smirked in response.

“As my emperor requests,” he said, sketching a bow.

-0-

Luke had enough practice using the Force to pry into someone's mind that it almost felt like sliding a knife through butter, to slip into the man's mind, even as he thrashed about and screaming.

“Sh, sh,” Luke murmured, holding his face in his hands. “You're the only one who held out like this, the others broke on pain alone. Sh, it won't hurt for too long. Just until I get all the information I want from you.”

And honestly, it wasn't difficult. He had the list of the man's associates, the bases he had seen in a matter of minutes. The problem was the man was from such an isolated cell it was almost all useless.

“You weren't very important at all, were you?” Luke asked.

“At least I fight for what I believe,” the man panted, glaring at Luke despite the pain written across his face, the sweat dripping into his eyes.

Luke frowned at him, still in his mind, because he had started to notice something in the man's mind. A complete lack of something rather.

So instead of releasing the man and allowing the stormstroopers to take him away, Luke jerked his head back and shoved deeper in, starting to rifle through the man's mind with disregard for his screams.

“I don't understand,” Luke said after a while, after examining memory after memory.

“What?” the man rasped.

“The Alliance's talk is just propaganda,” Luke said, dropping his hands for the first time from the man's face and stepping back. Behind him, the stormtroopers guarding the door shifted but otherwise didn't move. “That they're fighting for a better world. I know that your agents are just as likely to kill bystanders or contacts in a tough spot. You're not fighting for a better world—”

“Then why are you confused?” the man asked, and there was something almost mocking in expression that made Luke narrow his eyes and slam his shoulders back into the chair he was restrained in.

“Because there are no memories of that in your mind,” Luke said. “No dead children, no massacres—”

“We don't kill children,” the man said, all arrogance out of his expression for a moment. “That's _you_.”

Luke snarled at him, hands digging into his shoulders. “Everyone kills children in war.”

“Not everyone,” the man said. “You saw my life, didn't you? I would never kill a child. We leave that to monsters like you. Why do you _think_ the rebellion is growing.”

“Power,” Luke said. “That's the only thing people really fight for.”

“It must be so horrible for you,” the man said, and Luke still hadn't bothered to figure out what his name was. “To think that murdering children is normal. No wonder you're so confused by what you saw.”

Luke took a step back, staring at him. His jaw worked for a second before he whirled on one of the stormtroopers. “Kill him.”

“Don't you want to do it yours—”

“What did I just say?” Luke demanded and the stormtroopers both snapped up their blasters, firing as Luke stormed out of the room.

He made it halfway down the hall when he realized his hands were shaking.

-0-

“You can't be serious,” Leia said, strolling into his room later, finding Luke curled in the corner, one arm resting on the top of Artoo Detoo's domed head. “What's got this pathetic face?”

Luke laughed, not sounding amused at all. “Good to see you too, sister.”

She sat down beside him, Luke watching her graceful economy of motion. “I heard you were even given the chance to crack some rebel's head today.”

“Yes,” Luke said, without any of his usual inflection and Leia arched a brow at him, waiting. Luke heaved a sigh, pushing off from the astromech droid. “Have you ever wondered if the rebels aren't just all talk?”

“What?” Leia scoffed. “That they really are in this for truth and justice and all those other lies?”

“Yeah,” Luke said. “What if they mean it?”

“We both know power is all that matters,” Leia said, shaking her head. “Through power—”

“I gain victory,” Luke finished. “I know.”

“So why this sudden interest in the rebel's lies?” Leia asked, watching him as she leaned back against his couch, crossing her legs and spreading her arms along the back.

Luke looked away. “He never killed a child.”

Leia stared at him. “Are you serious?”

“What if it's true?” Luke asked, turning to her and she just shook her head. “What if he was right? What if it's not all a lie?”

“Why the sudden need to know?” Leia asked. “We are what we are, Luke, and he as a fool idiot who's now dead.”

“What if it doesn't _have_ to be this way?” Luke asked and they fell silent and still, staring at each other.

“What exactly are you even saying?” Leia asked finally, breaking the silence first. “You want to, what, defect to the rebellion because you think they aren't going to ask you to kill children? You'd throw away _everything_ we spent the last nineteen years fighting for—our entire _lives_ , Luke. We are finally almost becoming powerful enough to do something and you talk like you're even considering leaving that all behind for a _possibility_ , a hunch.”

“I'm not sure that's what I'm saying,” Luke said and Leia stared at him. “No, you're right. That is what I'm saying.”

“Have you lost your fucking mind?” Leia hissed, her indolent laziness disappearing all at once as she leaned forward.

“Don't act like you agree with the emperor,” Luke hissed back. “You hate him as much as I do—”

“Because we're Sith! We're supposed to hate. We're supposed to destroy him, and take his power in our own time.”

“What if we don't have to stay here to do that?” Luke asked.

“Because the rebellion is already doomed,” Leia said. “You'd be throwing away the position we _do_ have because you suddenly grew a conscious.”

“Have you honestly enjoyed our position here?” Luke snapped. “The killing, the pain? Palpatine himself—”

“I'd rather be here than with a doomed movement,” Leia said. “You're so hung up on children? That you'd throw away everything?”

“The things he's made us do!” Luke snapped. “They're not right, you know they aren't right?”

“What does right matter when you can take power and rebuild the galaxy in your own image?”

“You think he'll let us do that?” Luke asked. “He still has our father. He's already broken the rule of two, let alone all the other apprentices discarded along the way—”

“They were weak and we will not be if you're damned heart doesn't get in the way.”

“It's not,” Luke started and a different voice broke in between them.

“ _I was so worried about you... Obi-Wan told me terrible things. He said you turned to the dark side—that you killed younglings_.”

“What,” Leia started as they both turned, Artoo having suddenly started projecting an image into the middle of Luke's room. Both of them watched in confusion as the small woman clung to the taller man.

“ _All I want is your love.”_

“ _My love won't save you, Padme. Only my new powers can do that.”_

“ _At what cost?”_

“Is that father?” Leia asked.

“ _You're a good person, don't do this_!”

“Is that our mother?” Luke asked, voice even softer. “I've never—”

“Heard her voice before,” Leia said.

“ _I don't believe what I'm hearing. Obi-Wan was right. You've changed.”_

“This isn't the story father told us,” Leia said, propping her chin on one hand, Luke still staring, posture frozen in shock.

“ _I don't know you anymore. Anakin, you're breaking my heart. You're going down a path I can't follow.”_

“ _Stop, stop now, come back! I love you.”_

“How does your droid have this recording, Luke?” Leia asked when the recording started fizzling out into static.

Luke slowly turned his head, looking at Artoo, who beeped at him. “Artoo—”

But the droid cut him off with a series of beeps and whistles, sounding almost angry by the end.

“What is he even saying?” Leia asked. “I can't believe you even bothered to learn how to understand him.”

“He's saying he has the recording because he was there,” Luke said, staring at the droid that had been at his side since he started walking, using the Force to waddle through Imperial facilities.

“That's impossible,” Leia said. “I know that droid has gone in for his mind wipes on schedule for _years_. You whined about it enough and sulked every damned time about him losing his personality and whatever information you had programmed into him.”

Luke paused as Artoo let out another beep.

“He says that was an act,” Luke said and narrowed his eyes. “Seriously?” Another whistle and beep. “He says he programmed his own redundancy systems so he'd never forget.”

“Forget what? What was so important to this hunk of metal that he would go through all that—”

“Our mother,” Luke said and Artoo's whistle was low and sad. “He belonged to our mother.”

Leia went still at that, hands going white on her lap. “How do we know any of that was true?”

Luke looked over at her. “If that was our mother—”

“Begging,” Leia said. “It obviously didn't work on our father.” Luke just stared at her. “She wouldn't approve of us,” Leia said, in the face of Luke's silence. “You're just going to take this as proof that you were right and we should, what, honestly defect to the alliance?”

“Can you honestly say that you'd be happier here?”

Leia glared at him, finally pursing her lips together. “Well, certainly not without you.”

Luke's smile lit up his whole face for the first time in hours, if not days. “Well, I'm not likely to stay here.”

“You're not even going to give this any time to really consider it, are you?” Leia asked and Luke glanced at Artoo before raising his gaze back to his sister.

“With the emperor?” he asked and she sucked in a harsh breath, because Luke might as well have already signed his death warrant if they stayed just by opening this conversation.

“I'm not leaving without packing _something_ ,” Leia said.

“Meet you in the hanger for practice in an hour?” Luke asked and Leia closed her eyes, breathing deeply from the stomach before she nodded. “I'll put in the requisition for our practice run. Can't have us getting rusty after all.”

“Of course not,” Leia muttered, pushing herself to her feet.

For a second they both paused, before Luke leaned forward first, dragging her into an embrace, resting their foreheads together. They stayed like that for a second, breathing, before they broke apart.

“See you in an hour,” Leia said, before she left the room, hitting the door control with more force than necessary.

“An hour,” Luke said, and sank slowly back down, staring blankly at the wall.

An hour and they might be gone.

Or really, really dead.

 


	2. Chapter 2

Leia met Luke in the hallway. There was a small bag slung over his shoulder and Artoo at his side.

“Well, brother mine,” she said lightly, even though her chest felt tight. It wasn't quite fear and it wasn't quite anticipation. “Ready for our training flight?”

“Of course dear sister,” he said, and his smile was easy, his posture was easy, but his eyes were not. They turned as one and held hands as they walked down the hallway, passing Imperials going about their business. She would miss the way everyone in their path knew to get out of it, flowing around them like water.

Who knew how the rebellion or wherever they ended up would act.

“Which out of the way planet are we going to this time?” she asked, mild, because they were known to disappear for a day or two at a time, taking a ship out and exploring—or wrecking havoc when they felt like it.

“I thought we might head out toward the uncharted regions,” Luke said, as mild as she had. “See what we find on the way there.”

“So long as we don't go too far of course,” she said, and her own pack was tiny, a little satchel bumping against her side, her lightsaber on the left of her hip. “Our duties ever call us back.”

Luke laughed, light, and they were almost at the hanger when they came face to face with Leia's least favorite droid in the entire Empire.

“Oh my! Master Luke, Mistress Leia. And Artoo. I see you're preparing to go off again?”

“Yes, Threepio,” Luke said smoothly, still holding Leia's hand. Leia started counting in her head, hoping her brother's strange fondness for the golden droid wasn't about to delay them catastrophically. “We'll have to see you when we get back,” and Leia glanced down at Artoo to see him tilt his dome down slightly, like he didn't want to actually look at the other droid. It looked like he was _sad_.

“But, Master Luke, you're forgetting the protocol training we are supposed to be doing!”

“Protocol,” Luke repeated.

“After the incident at the last Imperial Ball—”

“You mean when I used a cocktail glass to gut that bitch of a senator?” Luke asked mildly and Leia tried not to smile. The emperor had been furious at Luke, who had calmly shrugged instead of explaining himself.

“Yes, well,” Threepio continued and Leia tightened her grip on her Luke's hand, reminding him they needed to get out. “That incident is why you're supposed to be having these lessons. They were mandated by the emperor himself and you cannot simply skip them. You shall have to delay the training mission—”

Leia's eyes flickered to Luke, who only looked alarmed for a second before he wiped his expression clear with a grin. “Oh no,” he said. “We can't do that. You'll have to simply come with us.”

“ _What_?” Leia hissed as Threepio waved his hands around.

“Come, come with you? Oh no, master, I simply—”

“It will be fun,” Luke said, letting go of Leia's hand and slinging am arm around Threepio's shoulders instead, propelling him forward and down the hall. “As you said, neither of us wants to get in trouble with the emperor. It will just be a day or two, no need to worry. Maybe you can get all these damned lessons out of the way at once.”

“The protocol of the imperial court—”

“I know most of it,” Luke insisted. “I just need reminders now and then.”

“If that's what you call what you need,” Leia muttered, following her brother and fuming. It was, by far, the best they could have come up with on short notice, but that did not mean she had to enjoy the thought of the droid accompanying them. Threepio had been an obnoxious constant in their lives, despite the fact their father hated the droid almost as much as Leia did.

But any time Vader took his fury out on the golden protocol droid, there Luke would be, patiently piecing him back together. The droid would be devoted to him, if he was ever allowed to remember it. Instead, Threepio saw Luke as annoying as Leia saw the droid. Luke pushed the boundaries of society more than Threepio's circuits could handle.

“I hate space travel,” Threepio whined as Luke actually shoved him through the doorway leading to the hanger.

“I promise we'll fly safely,” Luke said, waving a lazy hand at the troopers standing nearby the hanger doors.

“That,” Threepio started, but Artoo bumped into the back of his legs, whistling sharply. “Why—watch your language! And around the master's like that!”

Luke snickered and Leia scowled. “It's not like I can understand him anyway.”

“And I would never repeat what he said,” Threepio said, sounding scandalized. “Are—are you certain this is such a good idea, Master Luke?”

“Yeah, are you?” Leia asked as she stowed her bag in their ship, letting Luke strap the protocol droid in.

“It's better than the alternative of being delayed,” Luke said as Artoo beeped again and then took up position between the two pilot chairs.

“If you're certain,” Leia allowed, sliding into the first seat and starting the precheck. Only now that they were inches from flying into space did she start to fellow nervous, even as she calmly punched the coordinates for their scheduled jump into the system. They would break away later but the first stage had to look perfect.

“Yeah,” Luke said, and when he came and sat next to Leia, she noticed his hands were shaking. It was barely there, unnoticeable to most people perhaps. She reached out, laying her hand on top of his as he lifted the ship out of the hanger, floating it out into space.

She left it there even as he pushed the ship into hyperdrive.

-0-

“I am already late for the meeting at Yavin,” Bail Organa said, even as Captain Antilles shoved the data pad harder toward his chest. “What could possibly be this important?”

“You have to read the message,” Antilles said.

“I,” Bail started to protest again before his eyes dropped down and he froze. “This can't—this can't possibly be correct.”

“Our spy insists it is,” Antilles said. “It's not like they aren't recognizable.”

“Do I need to remind everyone the definition of a trap?” Bail asked.

“They're not going to talk to anyone else,” Antilles said. “We—we've been trying, it sounds like, but they dismiss everyone else as too low of rank to mean anything.”

Bail thought again of Yavin, of Mon Mothma's message. He took a deep breath, wondered if he had lost his mind sometime without noticing, and nodded. “Alright.”

-0-

Which is how Bail Organa found himself sitting across from the twin children of Darth Vader, the Skywalkers who had wrecked havoc and destruction against the fledgling rebellion almost since the moment it started. But staring at them, closer than he had ever had allowed himself to come before, all he could think of was how much they looked like Padme.

The girl, of course, had her stature, her hair, but she had Anakin's eyes. The boy, for all he looked bored and indolent, had something of her around the corners of his mouth, in the way he held his head as he watched Bail.

“Well, your gutsy, aren't you?” Luke said, and Bail wondered how he managed to sprawl like that in such a small chair.

“I am also a founding member of the Rebel Alliance, which I believe was part of your requirement for this meeting,” Bail said, much more calmly than he felt. He had decades of hiding his emotions from the force sensitive now.

“Well, it's not like we can sell ourselves to the small fish, now can we?” Luke asked, and his sister sat beside him in deadly silence, staring at Bail like she might set him on fire just for being in the room.

“I admit I am still struggling to believe this is actually happening,” Bail said, and he wondered what colors their eyes had originally been. Now they were both that sickly yellow that indicated excessive use of the dark side of the Force. Would either of them have had Padme's warm brown?

“Strange things happen all the time,” Luke said and he leaned forward suddenly, intent in every line of his body. Bail almost jumped hard enough to tip the chair over. “But I have a question.”

“I will do my best to answer,” Bail said, voice flat.

He thought he would have been used to Imperial defectors by now. It wasn't like the vast majority of their force was not made up of them. But no defectors had been the children of his one of his dearest friends—nor the vicious enforcers of their master's will.

The Force had frankly always baffled him, and it had mostly been his friendship with Obi-Wan that meant he understood anything about it at all.

“Do you kill children?” Luke Skywalker asked, and his eyes were intent on Bail's, who did not dare look away.

“Excuse me?”

“Your Rebel Alliance,” Luke said. “Is it a fluke, or do you actually believe even half of what you say?”

“You've risked yourself, and all of us, to ask me _that_?” Bail found himself asking.

Luke just kept staring at him, leaning forward on the table between them. Bail knew, if this was an attempted assassination that a simple table between them would do nothing, but he still found it disconcerting, to have the Sith leaning toward him.

“Are you going to answer?”

“No, we do not kill children,” Bail said, his stomach twisting in rage. He remembered the night at the Jedi Temple all too clearly, the child who had been cut down in front of him, and so many more children he had never seen. “We do not allow slavery, or massacres, or anything else if we can help it.”

“And how exactly do you expect to win a war like that?” Leia asked, the first thing she had said since he entered the room. “You are going up against an opponent who, I can assure you, has no such qualms.”

“What's the point of winning the war if we lose the values we fight for?” Bail asked.

“Winning?” Leia offered, Luke still staring at him.

“We will win by our morals or not at all,” Bail said, voice tight and Leia gave a disgusted look toward her brother, whose shoulders finally relaxed.

“Well then, I guess since we have no where else to go,” he said, with one of those smiles Bail recognized from the holos.

There had been a reason he never let himself get too close to Vader's children, even if he could never actually look like he was avoiding them.

-0-

Which was how Bail strolled into the meeting at Yavin IV with the twins at his back, even though it made his shoulder blades itch. Everything was in an uproar, the council yelling at each other and a girl who kept raising her voice as Mon Mothma seemed to droop by the moment.

“What is going on?” Bail asked, and everyone turned to him, many eyes slowly widening when they spotted who came in with him. Leia stood still as a statue next to the door, arms crossed over her chest but her eyes constantly moving. Luke was at Bail's shoulder, constantly shifting from foot to foot, or rolling his shoulder, but he was smiling, almost pleasantly.

“Bail, what is this?” Mon Mothma asked, obviously surprised.

“They defected,” Bail said, like it was nothing, like he was already used to the idea.

“Oh really!” one of the councilors yelled. “At this exact moment? Are they stupid?”

“Excuse me?” Leia asked, from near the door.

“The moment when the Empire unleashes a battle station with the power to destroy a planet, the emperor's prize pets defect? Organa, even you aren't that stupid.”

“Battle station,” Leia repeated.

“So Krennic's pet project does work,” Luke said, still smiling, though his eyes had gone cold when he and his sister had been called pets. Bail wanted to hit the councilor in the face.

“You know of it?” another councilor asked.

“Everyone in high command knows about it,” Luke said, and he sounded bored. “That's what comes from having every single message from development forwarded to you does. Galen Erso was either very thorough or just incredibly stupid, I never could tell.”

“My _father_ is dead,” the girl standing almost exactly across the table spat, and Luke's brows shot up.

“Does it matter?” the first councilor demanded. “The Empire already has it. It is functional. It destroyed half of Jedha. What chance can we possibly have?”

“Are you talking about surrendering?” Bail asked, shooting a shocked look at Mon Mothma.

“What else can we do in the face of that power?” another councilor demanded and Bail felt his fists clench at his sides.

“I told you!” the girl said, slamming a fist against the table they stood around. “My father built a weakness into that station, we can destroy it!”

“And what chance would we even have of finding that weakness?” someone asked.

“What chance? What choice do you have?” the girl demanded.

“She's right,” Leia said, still by the door. Everyone stilled when she spoke, turning to her. “You think the Emperor is going to accept your surrender? You think given a weapon like the Death Star he's not going to use it? If you give up now, you'll live under his thumb as long as he lives. If you think there's any other option, you've not met him.”

“And what are you doing here?” the second councilor asked.

“Because for some unfathomable reason, my brother wants to believe in your cause,” Leia said, voice flat. “And I go where my brother goes.”

Bail tried to ignore the look Mon Mothma was now giving him.

The first councilor raised her hands and dropped them again. “Even—even if there is such a weakness, we don't know what it is. Your father apparently failed to tell you.”

“He told me where to find the plans,” the girl said, eyes blazing. “If we don't make it to Scarif, if we don't send the whole rebel fleet there right now, if we don't take this chance, we'll never have another one.”

“This weakness,” Luke said, and much like when his sister had spoken, the whole room tensed. “You say Galen Erso put it in the Death Star?”

“Is that honestly what it's called?” Bail asked under his breath.

The girl tilted her head back, jaw set. “Yes. A weakness that could explode the whole system. A back door. He worked for the Empire because he felt if he didn't, they would just find someone else. This way he could do his part to destroy the thing he was creating.”

“Erso did that?” Leia said. “That's ballsy. I'm actually impressed. I thought he was just a doddering scientist.”

Luke glanced over at his sister and grinned, his smile turning sharp. “Dear sister. What weakness do you think Galen Erso would have inserted into the Death Star?”

“Well I could pull up his three thousand emails,” Leia said. “But I suspect the exhaust port that he insisted solved a problem no one else understood would be an excellent candidate.”

“I must say I agree,” Luke said and the whole room around them was dead silent.

“You, you know the weakness?” Mon Mothma asked into the silence.

“Even if we're incorrect on this hunch,” Luke said, turning back to her. “I'm sure the Force can guide us where we need to be.”

“And you would destroy it?” the councilor asked.

“Well, we did defect,” Luke said. “We might as well announce that with a bang.”

“Does,” and for the first time her voice seemed quiet when she spoke. “Does that mean you'll do it? You'll actually fight against this evil?”

“And we don't even have to attack Scarif and warn them that we're coming first,” Luke said, brightly and Bail sometimes felt like he was getting whiplash around the Sith. Leia was poised, but always cold in her constant rage. Luke could smile up until the point he suddenly wasn't and only then did you realize the danger.

“It is madness to trust them,” Raddus said, shaking his head.

“Do you want to win this or not?” Luke asked, light.

“You have killed rebels since our movement started,” Raddus shot back.

“Yes, well, you can't really blame us for being raised by a psychotic sadist who happens to run the whole galaxy, now can you?” Luke said and Bail wanted to sink to his knees and apologize to the memory of Padme, to see the fragile way Luke held himself, even though his cocksure smile hadn't slipped an inch. “We're here now. Do you want to survive or not?”

Raddus looked across the room, catching Bail's eyes and then Mon Mothma's before nodding.

“And the Council?” Mon Mothma asked, her voice barely wavering.

Another moment of silence passed before slowly the councilors started murmuring their agreements, that at least they would risk this one assault, before all was lost.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I always wanted someone who /knew/ Palpatine to interrupt the council in Rouge One and just be like look surrender is simply handing him the knife to gut you with, don't fucking do it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Threw up a couple pairings. These are the ones I'm like... 90% sure are going to happen. More to be announced, so on and so forth

Jyn wandered out of the council room, looking dazed and Cassian, who had been sitting back while waiting for her jumped to his feet.

“Well?” Baze asked, closer to her. “What happened? What did they say?”

“They,” Jyn started as suddenly the Skywalker twins walked out of the council chambers after her, Bail Organa of all people trailing behind them, watching. Cassian felt his jaw drop and body tense all at once. Jyn gave them an alarmed look as everyone went on the defensive the moment they recognized the twins.

“So you're Erso's child,” Luke Skywalker said, Cassian's hand dropping to his blaster. But the Sith only gave him one bored look, as if asking him if he was seriously considering it, before turning back to Jyn. “I vaguely remembered he had one.”

“I hadn't seen him in years,” Jyn said, voice tight.

“He's a much smarter man than I ever gave him credit for,” Luke said, Cassian's hand still twitching next to his blaster. “Now that I find out he's dead, I also find out I actually had a reason to respect him. It's actually disappointing.”

“Yes, well,” Jyn started.

“So what is happening?” Chirrut asked, and he had turned his head toward the Skywalker twins, a frown between his brows. “Are we going to Scarif?”

“Not quite,” Luke said and Cassian felt panic in his throat.

The Skywalker twins were rebel intelligence's worst nightmare.

He realized a moment later that Bodhi had drifted away from Baze and Chirrut, standing next to him instead. He wondered why Bodhi was coming to him, instead of staying next to the warrior with the much larger gun and the only possibility of surviving when the twins attacked. “What's the point when we already know where to attack?”

“What do you mean?” Cassian found himself asking. “What are—what are you even _doing_ here?”

“We defected,” Leia said, her voice flat and Cassian felt a shiver go through him. It was like his nightmare was standing in front of him, and he was expected to act like it was normal.

“You what?” Bodhi asked, beating everyone else standing there to the question. “You—you—you defected?”

“Yeah,” Luke said and seemed to actually notice Bodhi, causing him to laugh. “Ah, the defected pilot! You caused quite a stir, leaving when and from where you did.”

“I caused the stir,” Bodhi said disbelieving.

“Ah, yes, I imagine we might even cause a slightly larger one,” Luke said, and Leia behind him rolled his eyes.

Bodhi sputtered, not managing any actual words at all.

“ _Why_ ,” Cassian demanded, the first clear thought he had.

“Why?” Luke asked, voice bored again.

“Why are you here?” Cassian said. “You can't honestly believe you'd just—”

“You don't know that much about the emperor, do you?” Luke asked, voice mild.

“I never met him personally, what does that have to do with anything?” Cassian demanded.

“The simple fact we're here means he would kill us,” Luke said. “He's not really the type to believe in undercover missions. More interested in blunt force trauma.”

“Like a battle station that blows up planets?” Bodhi asked and Luke's eyes flickered over to him.

“Do you expect us to trust you on your word?” Cassian said, and his body hadn't relaxed yet, still poised for fight or flight.

Luke tilted his head, eyes narrowed slightly but he shrugged. “How about we blow up the Death Star first? Would that make you trust us?”

Cassian glanced at the others, Baze as tense as he was, and Chirrut sitting with his hands over the top of his staff, chin resting on them. Jyn and Bodhi were both frowning at him and Kay was strangely not as his back.

“But then again,” Luke said with a laugh, when Cassian couldn't answer. “Who do you trust? You're an intelligence operative.” When his mouth thinned, Luke looked away, as if bored with him already. “That's beside the point anyway. I simply found myself curious to meet Erso's child.”

“Well, you've met me now,” Jyn said, eyeing him warily..

“Yes, and I suppose if we are going to blow up this Death Star, we should,” and Luke pulled a face that Cassian noticed Bail Organa could not see. “Plan with the others.”

Behind him Leia made a noise but by the time Luke turned around, his smile was back in place.

“Are you serious?” Chirrut asked. “You're just planning on attacking the battlestation?”

“As I said, we know how to find the weakness of it,” Luke shrugged. “We've both seen the plans, we've even visited the station. And at the end of the day, that's why the Force is for.”

“I'm not sure the Force works like that,” Baze muttered and Luke gave him an appraising look.

“It can with enough training,” he said, and turned and walked away, leaving Cassian breathing a little easier.

“Just like that?” Bodhi murmured under his breath. “They show up and just like that they're going to—to totally turn things on its head?”

“Apparently,” Cassian said, and he glanced behind him, at where some of the rebels had gathered, readying themselves for an unauthorized attack on Scarif.

“Isn't something like this exactly what the rebellion needed?” Jyn asked, looking over at him.

“I'm not sure I'd define them as hope,” Cassian said.

-0-

“Brother, a word,” Leia said, shoving him toward a side room. Bail Organa was still walking with them and Leia snarled at him. “Not with you,” she said, slamming the door in his face.

Luke had wandered to the middle of the small room, tilting his head back and considering the roof.

“Are you sure this is even remotely a good idea?” Leia asked. “They're already planning the attack to take place in an hour from now. We're not even sure where the Death Star is right now.”

“You can only hide a station that large for so long,” Luke said, head still tilted back. “Have you considered this building yet? It's ancient. It feels—it feels like there's so much Force here.”

“Are you paying attention to me?” Leia demanded. “We're talking about leading an attack on Palpatine's favorite pet project. He's been trying to build this since the Clone Wars and has only successfully run its first mission. He will kill us for this.”

“The second we stepped foot on this base,” Luke said. “The instant we didn't kill Senator Organa when we realized he was part of the rebellion—we're already marked for him, and you know it.”

“We could still take all their heads and go home,” Leia said, waving her hand toward the door. “A lucky battle, a lucky moment and we could give him everything he had asked us for for the past several years. Even Thrawn never managed to behead the rebellion leadership and Force knows he tried.”

“You want to go back,” Luke said slowly.

“Are you sure this wasn't just complete madness?” Leia asked.

Luke stared at her another moment. “If we go back,” he said softly. “You know what's eventually going to happen to us.”

“Not if we're strong enough!”

“Strong enough to take on both Palpatine and father?” Luke asked. “You _know_ we're not. And he will never allow us to become that strong before he pits us against each other.”

“And if we simply refused to fight each other?”

“You think he would allow that?” Luke asked. “If we refused he'd pick whichever of us he liked more that day and kill the other one. And whoever survived would have to live with that. Sure, someday we'd kill him, but it would be without one of us.”

“He's a terrible Sith,” Leia hissed, hands clenched at her side.

“The Rebellion may be mad and this plan may be mad,” Luke said. “But isn't this better? We can learn, we can become more, and someday we really will be able to take him down, together.”

“And father?”

“Depends on how much he decides to protect his master,” Luke said.

“They'll hunt us.”

“We'll just have to learn how to run faster,” Luke said, and stepped forward, pulling his sister to him, hands on her shoulders. “We have lived so long under him. Under the Empire, and their conceit. I would rather his rage than to go back to that.”

Leia's eyes darted away for a moment before she looked back. “And the Death Star? Honestly?”

“Haven't you always wanted to spit in Tarkin's face?” Luke asked and abruptly Leia laughed, shaking her head, her long braid swaying.

“And foolish Director Krennic,” she said.

“It's only too bad we cannot get one up on Thrawn anymore,” Luke said and Leia shook her head, still laughing.

“Too bad indeed,” she said and Luke paused, squeezing her shoulder.

“Truly,” he whispered. “Are you with me?”

“I'm always with you, brother,” she replied immediately. “Even when you are a sentimental fool with too many impulses and not enough sense.”

“Then let us go really fuck up those we left behind,” Luke said and when he opened the door to find Bail Organa waiting for them outside, Leia was still laughing furiously, her rage at those who had hurt them so many years palatable.

-0-

“Are you certain as to the wisdom in this course of action?” Mon Mothma asked, standing next to Bail Organa as they watched the fleet scramble, the leader of red squadron staring at his two new recruits with something like fear in his eyes.

“They came to us,” Bail said. “They asked to be here.”

“That doesn't mean this isn't a trap,” Mon Mothma said, hands folded in front of her.

Bail looked away, at where the small fighters were being fueled and readied, most of the capital ships still in orbit. “They are right. This plan does not feel like the emperor.”

“He's been craftier than we gave him credit for before,” Mon Mothma said softly.

“They are Padme's children,” Bail said.

“And do you not fear that is blinding you?” Mon Mothma asked. “You wanted to protect them, to keep them from their father. That failure has haunted you, my friend. You cannot risk the Alliance over your guilt.”

“I cannot say that isn't part of it,” Bail said. “But consider too, how hopeless the situation looked, only hours ago. Jedha was only the beginning. If the Empire can destroy in a moment any world that sided with us, we would soon consider the battle at Atollon simply a minor skirmish instead of a tragedy that took out almost an entire rebel cell.”

Mon Mothma looked away for a moment, hands clenched at her sides. “This is dangerous.”

“We must take risks,” Bail said. “We must or we are doomed. You know this, you stood in front of the Senate and denounced Palpatine yourself. This rebellion is built on those who have defected.”

“I do not want you to be blinded by the past, Bail,” she said, meeting his eyes. “They are dangerous. A risk, yes, perhaps what will save us, yes. But they are not our lost friend.”

“I know who they were raised by,” Bail said. “But they cannot be beyond hope.”

“For our sake, I can only,” and her mouth twisted wryly. “Hope that that is true.”

“Me too,” Bail said softly, looking back over the ships, spotting Luke in a pilots suit, a shockingly familiar astromech at his side. He felt his heart twist painfully, and hoped it wasn't obvious.

He hoped all too much that this wasn't a trap, because he wasn't certain how he would be able to survive if it was.

 


	4. Chapter 4

“Where have you been?” Cassian asked as Kay lumbered up. His voice was low, calm, completely usual, but as Bodhi stood next to him he felt like something beating at the edge of his thoughts, like a hummingbird’s wings. It felt an awful lot like constant, low grade panic, despite the fact Cassian looked downright bored.

“I am sorry,” Kay sound. “I was accosted by a pair of unreprogramed Imperial droids. The astromech has a mouth on him. I don’t remember being allowed to swear quite that much with either of my programs.”

Bodhi felt his eyes keep sliding over to Cassian, even as he tried to focus exclusively on the floor in front of them, pilots and mechanics running around, all hectic preparation that he had no part in. But Cassian stood there, looking completely non-bothered despite the way he had panicked for a second upon seeing the Skywalker twins and the fact that there was something about him that _felt_ like he was still panicking. Bodhi just couldn’t find any traces of that anxiety in Cassian’s face or posture and that, he told himself, was why he kept looking at him.

That was all.

There was no other reason for it.

“The Skywalkers brought droids with them?” Cassian asked.

“Apparently so,” Kay said. “Should they really have run of the base?”

“No,” Cassian said and he started to walk away when he stopped again. His posture didn’t change, his eyes didn’t tighten, but the hummingbird wings got even more frantic. Bodhi whipped his head around to see Luke Skywalker strolling toward them again, his sister a shadow behind him, scowling at everyone in their path.

“Aren’t those—” Kay started.

“Yes,” Cassian said shortly.

“Well, that’s unexpected,” Kay said, voice flat and Bodhi almost wanted to laugh except the twins were in flight suits and this was the second time they had sought out someone in a group where he was standing.

“I guess they want to defect,” Cassian said.

“Why are they coming over here?” Kay asked just as Luke reached them, his sister standing about a foot back with her arms crossed over her chest. Bodhi’s chest hurt, because it felt like there was fury choking him, except he wasn’t angry.

“Not joining us in the attack?” he asked and Bodhi frowned because Cassian wasn’t a pilot he was a spy—and then he realized all at once the Sith boy was looking straight at _him_ when he asked the question.

“What?” he managed and without looking he knew Cassian had tensed again.

“You’re not joining us?” Luke repeated.

“Me?” Bodhi managed. “You’re asking why I’m not joining in a fighter attack on a battle station the size of a moon?”

“You’re a pilot, aren’t you?”

“Of a cargo freighter!”

Luke considered him another moment but Cassian broke in before he could say anything. “Why are we even prepping for an attack? Do we even know where the station is?”

“Yes,” Luke said and Cassian blinked once.

“It’s not still at Jedha, is it?” he asked and Bodhi felt the same twist of pain he always did when he slowed down long enough to remember his home was gone.

“No,” Luke said. “There’s only so many places Tarkin would take the station, and back to its home dock is the most logical. It’s only been finished, they still need to load all the personnel and supplies for it to actually function on its own.”

“Seems like a risk,” Cassian said, squarely meeting Luke’s gaze.

“That’s above your rank, Captain,” Luke said sweetly and looked back at Bodhi. “So? Are you coming or not?”

“I’m not cleared for a combat mission,” Bodhi said and when he looked over Cassian had curled both of his hands into fists.

“Why do you want him to come?” Cassian asked.

Luke tilted his head to one side. “Why not? Call it a hunch. He should come.”

“A hunch?” Bodhi asked. “Is that what having the Force is like?”

There was something in Luke’s expression when he looked at him, something like amusement, something like pity, something like excitement and Bodhi wanted to hide behind Kay and remind his lungs how to breath. “Well? Are you coming?”

“I couldn’t even get into the Imperial Academy,” Bodhi said. “They rejected me from being a fighter pilot.”

“Is that a no?” Luke asked and Bodhi hesitated only a second longer before stepping forward.

“Bodhi,” Cassian said, and his voice had gone tight again, like it had when he first saw the twins.

“Don’t you have faith in him?” Luke asked and Leia behind him had one perfectly devastating brow arched, like she dared Cassian to say anything against her brother.

“It’s,” Cassian started, Kay behind him shifting. He grit his teeth and looked back at Bodhi. “Be careful,” he said instead of anything. He turned and walked away, all carefully controlled movements, Kay trailing after him and leaving Bodhi next to the twins.

“Are you certain about this?” Bodhi asked.

“Oh, I have a good feeling about it,” Luke said lightly and Bodhi thought that honestly the last thing he should have been doing was following a Sith who informed a shocked looking Gold Leader that he had a new pilot and to find him a flight suit. Bodhi wished he hadn’t agreed just because of the look he was getting.

Jyn met him when he walked back onto the floor, a flight suit that was totally different from his usual jumpsuit hanging off his shoulders and he felt like he was playing dress up. “I think this was a really stupid idea,” he murmured and she squeezed his hand.

“Just be careful.”

“I will,” he promised, wondering if he even knew how.

The corner of her mouth twitched, almost like she was amused at herself. “May the Force be with you,” she said and Bodhi squeeze her hand so hard he thought he might have cut the flow of blood off.

-0-

Tarkin swept onto the bridge of the Death Star. “Are we under _attack_?” he demanded.

“Yes, sir,” someone said, an officer whose name Tarkin hadn’t bothered to learn since taking the station out from underneath Krennic’s fumbling, bureaucratic hands.

Tarkin looked at the display and twisted his head back. “Are we being attacked by _fighters_?”

The officer cleared his throat. “Yes, sir. They are… very effective at dodging our defenses.”

Tarkin opened his mouth to say something else when the door to the bridge swished open again, Vader striding through. “Ah, Lord Vader, it seems like your shuttle has arrived just in time.”

“Ready my fighter,” Vader said to an underlining, who immediately scurried off. “This attack is unexpected.”

“And comes at the very time Krennic is at Scarif, hunting for that supposed flaw built into the system,” Tarkin said. “There is no way the rebels could have found the weakness on their own, and they should have certainly not known our location.”

“The report said Galen and his scientists had been killed,” Vader said.

“Yes,” Tarkin said. “That is what I read as well.” 

He watched Vader as the Sith looked out the viewport, concentrating on something only he could sense. Tarkin rarely put stock in the Force, but he had seen the Jedi at the height of their powers, and he had worked with Vader enough over the years to not underestimate it either. As he watched, Vader slowly stiffened, bringing himself up to his full terrifying height.

“What is it, Lord Vader?” Tarkin asked, not liking to be kept waiting.

“What is the last report of my children?” Vader asked and Tarkin frowned at him.

“Report of them?”

Vader seemed to shake himself, his shoulders twitching slightly. “I will deal with this attack myself,” he said, and his steady breathing, controlled by his suit seemed to quicken, which should have been against his life supports programing.

“They can pose no threat to us,” Tarkin sniffed. “They could not possibly know the flaw, if one even exists.”

“Still, it is daring,” Vader said. “And it will be dealt with,” and there was a deep fury to his voice that Tarkin rarely heard so he simply raised his brow and waved Vader off.

“Do what you must then,” he said, unconcerned.

-0-

“Are you alright?” Jyn asked, standing next to Cassian, who had his arms crossed over his chest, eyes trained on the display in the middle of the room.

“Fine,” he said, as a whoop came over the line, a pilot succeeding instead of turning into a ball of fire.

“Don’t get cocky!” Leia hissed over the line and Jyn slouched against the wall next to Cassian.

“Do you think this will really work?”

“If it does, we’ll owe your father a lot,” Cassian said and he closed his eyes for a moment before opening them again, still not quite looking at her.

“Yes, yes we will,” she said, the anger curling in her chest again.

But it was gone in the next moment, when Bodhi’s voice came over the line. “There’s one behind him—”

“Go left,” Luke’s voice said, calm in the middle of the battle. “I got him.”

“We should have our capital ships in this fight,” Admiral Raddus said, standing nearer to the display than Jyn and Cassian were, and he looked as tense as Cassian was.

“They would have been destroyed instantly,” Bail Organa reminded him.

“Still,” Raddus said.

“We just lost general Merrick!”

At one point Jyn looked over and Cassian had both his hands steepled and covering his eyes, breathing deeply. “Are you worried about Bodhi?”

“He’s not a fighter pilot,” Cassian said. “What is he even doing there?”

“Ah,” Leia’s voice came over the line again. “Dad’s not on Mustafar anymore.”

“Oh you noticed that did you?” Luke asked, and for the first time his voice sounded strained. “Bodhi, and—whatever red numbers are nearest, we’re going on a trench run.”

“I’ll cover you up here,” Leia said. “Try and distract that Advanced.”

It felt like everyone had stopped breathing for a minute.

“Skywalker,” a tech said from the control room, sounding terrified. “You—you haven’t turn on your targeting computer, even though you’re leading the trench run.”

Luke actually laughed over the line. “Targeting computer? Honestly.”

“Are, are you not turning it on then?” Bodhi asked.

“Trust in the Force,” Luke said, sounding surprisingly calm.

There was another scream. “We just lost Red Five,” someone said.

“Focus,” Luke snapped.

“That tie your sister said she was going to distract? It’s right behind us,” Bodhi said. “Closing fast.”

“Artoo, see what you can do,” Luke said and there was a pause where no one breathed. Jyn reached out, blindly, taking Cassian’s hand and holding on. “We’re almost there,” Luke said and everyone let out that breath, only to take another one and hold it again.

“Another—” Bodhi started and cut off abruptly. “I got hit. The damage—”

“Pull out,” Luke said immediately.   

“They’ll be nothing between you and that tie then!”

“Pull out,” Luke repeated. “You’re not going to do any good if you’re hit again. _Now_.”

“I’m pulling out,” Bodhi said.

“Skywalker,” Bail said, voice tight. “What—”

“You are so useless without me,” Leia said over the line and Luke laughed.

“What just happened?” Raddus demanded.

“She disabled the Advanced,” Luke said. “We’re clear in the trench.”

“Would you like to do the honors?” Leia asked. “Or shall we both fire just to make absolutely sure?”

“Oh, I think a little insurance would go a long way,” Luke said and there was a moment of total silence as everyone waited.

“Missiles went in,” Luke said, still totally calm. “Everyone? I suggest hightailing it away from the battle station, right now.”

“We’re going,” another pilot said and everyone was staring in shock at the display in front of them.

“It’s gone!” Bodhi yelled over the line. “The station it—it actually blew up!”

“For Jedha!” several other pilots roared at once.

“Hyperspace, now, there are still ties after us,” Luke said. “Those that didn’t have all their sensors scrambled.”

Communication cut off as one by one the remaining fighters hit hyperspeed.

Bail Organa reached across the display, taking Mon Mothma’s hand and holding on as they stared in silent shock at the display in front of them as slowly the cheer of victory went up around them.


	5. Chapter 5

Luke sat on top of his X-Wing, one leg drawn up underneath him, the other swinging freely as he watched the other pilots get swallowed by the rebels, everyone yelling at once. Artoo had already dropped down out of his ship, his head casing scorched but otherwise fine. Threepio had been waiting, already scolding the little astromech and Luke had never understood the dynamic between the two droids which hadn’t changed no matter how many times Threepio had been almost destroyed and then rebuilt, or how many times either of them were supposed to have mind wipes.

Wipes he realized had never mattered to Artoo, who had rolled up to the golden protocol droid after each wipe and irritated him until Threepio started treating him like he always did.

Luke’s chin was in his hand as he watched the droids, purposefully not watching as Bodhi was lifted off the ground by Chirrut, who let him go for a second only to drag him back into another embrace.

“Hey,” someone said below him and Luke glanced down, finding a rebel pilot with a dark mustache looking up at him.

“What?” Luke asked.

“You did good flying,” the pilot said and Luke realized after a moment the man was grinning at him, specifically, instead of just in victory. “You saved my life too.”

“Strictly speaking destroying the Death Star probably saved every rebel’s life—”

“Yeah, but specifically you took out a tie coming right at me,” the pilot said. “So you know, good job. And thanks.”

“Right,” Luke said after giving the man a narrow eyed suspicious look. “You’re welcome.”

“My name’s Biggs,” the man said, even though Luke hadn’t asked. “I take it I’ll see you around?”

“Perhaps,” Luke said, propping his elbow on one knee and resting his cheek on his fist.

“You know you should be celebrating with everyone else,” Biggs said and before Luke could say anything else he bounded away, back into the cheering mass of people. Luke cast his gaze around, spotting the leaders of the rebellion on the other side of the hanger, Mon Mothma’s usually serious face having broken out into a wide grin, and Bail standing like the pillar he had always been in the Senate, even as the Senate became more useless and lost what little power they had left.

When Leia finally climbed onto his X-Wing, he reached for her hand without looking. “Did you see what happened to father?”

“His tie spun out of control when I hit his engine,” Leia said. “It was still spinning away when the thing blew.”

“So he probably wasn’t caught in the blast,” Luke said.

“I think we would have felt it,” Leia said. “Instead, he’ll probably spend a few days limping back into space where he can catch a ride back to the emperor.”

Luke finally looked at his sister, her short hair fluffy after being in the helmet, and her face as blank as his as they watched the celebration. “He knows now.”

“That would have been unavoidable,” Leia said.

“Yes,” Luke agreed.

“I don’t remember Imperial parties being like this,” Leia said and she mirrored Luke’s posture, one leg underneath her, her elbow on her knee, the hands between them still clasped tightly.

“I don’t think any Imperial parties were ever like this,” Luke said and they sat there, on the edges of it and watching.

-0-

Bail had passed the Skywalker’s droids earlier in the hanger and had to stop himself, seeing them again like a slap. Threepio was still clad in gold, exactly like he had been when he had been at Padme’s side, during the whole war. How many times had he seen those exact two droids standing next to her, or next to Anakin while he and Padme pretended they didn’t mean anything much at all to each other despite their constant proximity.

Bail had never expected to see either droid again, let alone together.

He paused outside the door to the quarter assigned to the Skywalker twins, his hand raised to knock when he paused. There was the sound of a voice on the other side of the door and occasional beeps and whistles, while he tried to gather his courage and actually knock.

Finally he raised his hand again and rapped on the door.

There was a momentary pause before Luke Skywalker stood on the other side, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the door frame. “Organa.”

“Skywalker,” Bail said.

“So are you our handler then?” Luke asked. “The one sent to wrangle us and try to mold us into the Rebellion?”

“Now that the hectic nature of the Death Star threat has died down, there will have to be some… negotiations,” Bail said.

“So that’s a yes then,” Luke said, and Bail bit the inside of his cheek.

“I did bring you into the rebellion, after all,” he said. “May I come in?”

“Sure,” Luke shrugged, stepping away from the door. Bail stepped in after him, glancing around the bare rooms, only a few small bags dropped on the shelves, Artoo in the middle of the room.

“Your sister isn’t here?” Bail asked.

“She’s,” Luke waved a hand. “About.”

“And you’re not with her?”

“I needed to talk to Artoo,” Luke said, folding himself down onto one of the beds, resting his arm on Artoo and sprawling across the top of the droid like an indulgent cat. Bail gingerly sat on the bed across from him, for lack of better options. “So,” Luke said, watching him. “What do you want?”

“We have not had a chance to discuss your role in the Rebel Alliance,” Bail said. “Or about the difference of our… methods.”

“So this is the talk when you try and wrangle us into being good rebels?”

“Consider it instead the opening salvo,” Bail said, voice stiff. “You did defect because of the difference in our methods, did you not?”

Luke’s eyes went to the door and flickered back to Bail. “I suppose so.”

“There’s also the matter of your droids,” Bail said after a moment. “They are Imperial, are they not?”

Artoo beeped at him, a low angry string of sounds and Luke laughed, Bail looking at the droid in confusion. “Only perhaps by sheer technicality,” Luke said. “Artoo however? Apparently, he was my mother’s droid.”

“I know,” Bail found himself saying and Luke tilted his head at him. “I—I remember him. Threepio was too. Your mother’s, I mean.”

Luke considered him, eyes dropping to the droid again. “Well, at any rate, Artoo insists he never stopped being hers. All these years in the Empire, he spent watching over us, hoping one day to remind Padme’s children who she was.”

“You make it sound like he never had a mind wipe.”

“Apparently he hasn’t in almost over thirty years,” Luke said. “Our mother never gave him one, and when the Empire tried, he had created enough sub routines to protect his memory,” and Bail blinked at the droid, who let out another series of beeps. “So when we started to question the Emperor, he was kind enough to pull up footage of our mother to show us.”

“He has footage?” Bail found himself asking, hands tight on the edge of the bed, hating the way the boy across from him was looking at him, too sharp.

“You knew my mother,” the boy said, not even much of a question.

“Yes,” Bail said, softly. “She—our politics often aligned. We were often on the same committees, in on the same conversations. She became—she became a good friend.”

Luke’s eyes were narrowed at him, still sprawled over the top of his droid. “How good?”

“I remember reaching Musafar,” Bail said slowly and Luke’s brows shot up. “When I didn’t hear from Obi-Wan Kenobi. I remember when he told me that the Emperor had somehow gotten there before he could reach the ship again, and that Palpatine had taken both Anakin and Padme with him.” Bail couldn’t meet the boy’s eyes anymore. “I would have fought Palpatine to save her if I thought it had a hope in hell of working. If it could have saved her.”

When he looked back the boy was watching him again. “Kenobi?” he said. “I thought he was supposed to have died in the uprising, with all the other Jedi.” Before Bail could speak, Luke sat up. “You helped Jedi during the uprising.”

“Yes,” Bail said.

“You tried to help my mother during the uprising.”

“Yes,” Bail said again, softer.

“You’ve been part of this Rebel Alliance since the beginning,” Luke said, shaking his head with a laugh.

“Technically I think we declared it before the uprising even occurred,” Bail said wryly, which made Luke laugh again.

“Well, fuck,” Luke said. “How did they miss you?”

“I’ve certainly got a lot of practice pretending to be harmless,” Bail said and Luke was considering him again.

“I never knew my mother,” Luke said. “A few days ago, I had never even heard her voice.”

“She was a brave, passionate woman,” Bail said.

“What would have happened,” Luke asked, not looking at him again. “If you had reached Mustafar before the emperor?”

“I don’t know,” Bail admitted. “I don’t know if she would have survived. I don’t know if we could have helped her.”

“If you had gotten there first, if she had still died in childbirth,” Luke pressed.

“I don’t know,” Bail repeated, because on the day that the emperor had introduced the senate to the Skywalker twins, five at the time, it had felt like someone had stabbed Bail, when he realized Padme had had her children and they had been alive all this time, under the emperor’s fingertips. “I don’t know what we would have done.” He looked away again, unable to meet Luke’s golden eyes. “I do know Breha and I had always talked of adopting a child. I do know if I had been given the chance I would have.”

“You would have adopted us?” Luke asked, eyes snapping over.

“Given the chance?” Bail asked. “Yes.”

When he dared to look up Luke was staring at him. “But you didn’t,” he said softly. “Our father raised us instead.”

“I didn’t even know you had survived,” Bail said. “Until you were five years old.”

“Well,” Luke said finally. “The past is the past, isn’t it?”

“Yes,” Bail agreed, past the lump in his throat.

“So,” Luke said, turning away, leaning back on Artoo’s dome again. “How do you intend to integrate us into this rebellion of yours?”

“To be honest,” Bail said, clearing his throat and rubbing his eyes quickly, since the Sith was no longer looking at him. “We’re all lost when it comes to the Force. What Jedi we had have disappeared.”

“That Lothal business, right?” Luke asked.

“Yes,” Bail said. “And though I was friends with Jedi during the war, I still can only vaguely grasp their ideas of the Force. But I know the Dark Side is not to be trifled with. Which is why if you are going to stay with the Rebellion, you need a teacher.”

Luke arched a brow at him. “I thought you said the Jedi that you knew had disappeared.”

“The ones who were active in the Alliance have,” Bail said. “There are… others that went into hiding.”

Luke stared at him. “You said you picked Kenobi off Mustafar.”

“Yes,” Bail said.

“You’re not possibly thinking of sending us to Kenobi, are you?” Luke asked in disbelief. “Didn’t he train our _father_?”

“Do you know any other Jedi in hiding?” Bail asked.

“No,” Luke said, shaking his head. “But this is still a terrible idea.”

“Perhaps,” Bail agreed. “But I don’t really have another option, unless you can come up with one?”

“We could skip this whole idea of a Jedi teacher to begin with,” Luke said.

“Yeah, that’s, that’s not going to happen,” Bail said and Luke narrowed his eyes at him. “So tomorrow. You’re going to take a ship with your sister, and you’re going to find Jedi Master Kenobi and convince him it’s time to come out of exile.”

“If he’s been in hiding all these years, doesn’t that mean he’s already given up?” Luke asked.

“Not necessarily,” Bail said. “I’m not sure what’s he’s been up to in the desert.”

“The desert,” Luke repeated. “Please tell me that Vader’s former master did _not_ go to his homeworld to hide.”

“Well, no one’s found him there, have they?” Bail asked and Luke just stared at him.

“How are _any_ of you idiots still alive?”

“Maybe this just proves the Force is with us,” Bail said, and Luke gave him a disgusted look. “So tomorrow, you and your sister are going to go find him.”

“Fine,” Luke said, shaking his head. “Because this isn’t a terrible fucking idea.”

“May the Force be with you on your journey,” Bail said and he left the room with Luke cursing after him, but in some strange way, Bail felt lighter than he had in years.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yeah so I purposefully kept Biggs alive during the Death Star run after toying with it because without his and Luke's former friendship his death wouldn't really mean anything and I'm super interested in seeing how their dynamic goes without Luke being the starry eyed child he is when he and Biggs are friends. 
> 
> Also I'm focusing on Bail and Luke's relationship first because it doesn't make me wheeze in pain but believe me dear readers Leia and Bail's time is coming.


	6. Chapter 6

Leia found the pilot in a corridor, halfway across the base from where her and her brother had been quartered. He certainly never heard her coming as she approached from behind, slamming him up against the wall.

“What the—” he started.

“Your intentions toward my brother,” she said, twisting his arm. “What are they?”

“What?” the pilot asked, whose name Leia hadn’t bothered to learn. She had seen him approach her brother though, after the battle had ended, had seen him smile at her brother like he wanted something. And while her brother had not smiled _back_ at him, there was a look in his eye that Leia recognized only too well.

Luke leaned toward kindness like a flower turning its face to the sun and no amount of pain had ever convinced him to _stop_.

“I already asked you the question,” Leia said, shoving him further into the wall.

“I was thanking him for saving my life!” the pilot protested.

“Yes, but I didn’t ask you what you _did_ , I asked you what your intentions were,” Leia said. “So why don’t you spit those out and then we can both go back to our nights?”

“I don’t have intentions,” he said, turning his head to try and get a better look at her. “He’s a great pilot, you both are, and I just wanted to let him know!”

“And will you approach him again?” Leia demanded.

“I don’t know, maybe! We’re all in the rebellion together now, aren’t we?”

“And you, what, want to be friends with a Sith?” Leia demanded.

“If he’s a good pilot, sure,” the man said and Leia let him go abruptly, stepping back.

For a moment the pilot didn’t move, slowly turning back around. “You’re intense, aren’t you?’

“Yes, well,” Leia said and took a step forward, back into his space and obviously startling him. “You will not hurt my brother. If you’re intentions toward him change, I will become aware of it. And we will have to have another talk.”

“The way you say intentions it sounds like you think I want to bed him,” the pilot said and Leia just stared at him until he started blinking rapidly. “What, honestly?”

“Try not to,” she said, voice flat and he held both hands up quickly.

“I wasn’t—I mean I wasn’t there flirting with him. He saved my life and was alone, okay? Didn’t seem right when everyone else was celebrating what you guys did.”

Leia hummed, not much believing him. “Just remember, I’m watching,” she said, and turned away.

Only to realize two corridors down everything looked the same.

Mouth twisting, she paused, centering herself with a few deep breaths and reaching out to where she could feel Luke. Except even his constant presence didn’t tell her which of the maze-like hallways to take.

Still scowling she turned around, almost running into the slight form behind her. “Lost?” Jyn Erso asked.

“No,” Leia replied shortly.

“Well, in that case I certainly am not either.”

“I thought you were a rebel,” Leia said. “Don’t they give you a map when you join up?”

Jyn snorted. “Well in that case shouldn’t you have gotten one too? Besides, I’m not really a rebel.”

“You sure look like one,” Leia said.

“What does that mean?” Jyn asked, almost laughing. She tugged on her muddy brown vest and looked back at Leia. “Was that a statement about my clothes of all things?”

“Well, and the fact you’re constantly in the presence of that spy,” Leia said. “I can’t imagine him trailing after someone who didn’t believe in his cause.”

“Look, I don’t have a map,” Jyn said. “And I’m not really a rebel, but if you want company while we’re both trying to find our way back—”

“I know it’s in that direction,” Leia said, gesturing to where Luke was, a small star she could always find.

“That’s oddly specific,” Jyn said, and they turned down the left hallway. “Oh, is it a Force thing?”

“A Force thing,” Leia said, shaking her head. “Is that honestly how you people see the Force?”

“I don’t know,” Jyn said. “It doesn’t get talked about a lot anymore, unless someone knew the Jedi.”

“The Jedi hardly have a monopoly on the Force,” Leia said. “Besides, they’re gone.”

“Sure, but there was enough of them people know about them,” Jyn said. “I don’t think other Force users are quite so well known.”

Her hand had gone to a crystal around her neck as they spoke and Leia’s brows arched up, feeling the thrum of power. “And did you? Know a Jedi?”

“No,” Jyn said. “But my mom talked about them.”

“And did she give you a Kyber crystal?” Leia asked, making Jyn jump slightly.

“What?”

“That thing around your neck,” Leia said. “It’s a Kyber. They’re what goes into lightsabers.”

Jyn dropped her eyes, fingers still wrapped around the crystal. “Yes, my mother gave it to me. I don’t think she ever got over the end of the Jedi, for whatever reason she had. It was the last thing she did for me.”

“Before what? Did she leave or did she die?”

Jyn’s eyes flickered over, hard in the low lights of the corridors. “She died, not that it’s really any concern of yours.”

“Ah,” Leia said. “Well, that’s a familiar story then. Dead mother, and father working for the Empire.”

“Except my father was working to undermine them the whole time,” Jyn said and startled when a random brick in the hallway seemed to be crushed by thin air. Leia didn’t blink.

“Your father certainly knew how to play a bureaucracy,” Leia said. “I’ll give him that. Everyone underestimated him and that is a surprisingly powerful thing.”

“And something I’m certain you have no experience with,” Jyn said.

“In the Empire?” Leia asked. “You’d be surprised.”

“You do look like you wouldn’t be a danger,” Jyn said. “So delicate, such a sweet face.”

Leia stopped to stare at her, brow arched sharply. “Is that what you take advantage of too?” Leia asked. “Considering your face is even sweeter looking than mine.”

“Was that a compliment?” Jyn asked.

“You’re a con, aren’t you?” Leia asked, finally placing the other woman’s body language, the way she carried herself.

“Anything to survive,” Jyn said, not quite meeting her eyes as she shrugged.

“Then you threw yourself in with the wrong place,” Leia said. “This Rebellion, that spy, they don’t do anything to survive. They go for the _ideals_ , and those ideals will get them all killed. How did you even fall in with them?”

“Because I suppose I figured family was actually as important as survival,” Jyn said, like she didn’t want to admit it. “They gave me the chance to find my father.”

“And in the process, you think you found a new family?”

“Does that matter to you?” Jyn asked as they reached another intersection, stopping again. “What does it matter to you why I’m here?”

“Because nothing about this makes sense to me,” Leia said. “Least of all why we’re still here ourselves.”

“Well, I don’t think I’m going to be able to answer that one for you,” Jyn said as a voice called down from the hallway.

“Jyn!”

Both women turned to see Baze approaching, still carrying his gun like even in a base of supposed friends he couldn’t quite put it down. “Chirrut was worried when you didn’t come back.”

“I may have gotten a little lost,” Jyn said, Baze giving Leia a long look which she returned, unimpressed. “I’ll have to get Cassian to make a map because whoever build these temples? Have a weird sense of angles.”

“It was Jedi,” Leia said and Baze and Jyn both looked at her. “A long time ago, but Jedi nonetheless. Now, if you’ll excuse me?”

“Do you know where you’re going?” Jyn asked and Leia shot her another look, as impressed as the one she had given Baze before she turned and floated off, focusing on Luke again to the exclusion of all else. Eventually it brought her home.

-0-

No one outside of Luke Skywalker heard exactly how Leia reacted to the idea of finding an old Jedi master, but everyone in the base felt a shiver go through them around the same time. Those sleeping burrowed a bit deeper into their bunks and those awake found themselves checking the environmental controls and blowing on their fingertips to bring warmth back.

-0-

Leia stood, arms crossed over her chest watching Luke load supplies onto their ship.

“This is ridiculous.”

Luke shrugged, used to her coldness. “Maybe. But maybe the idea isn’t so mad.”

“The only Jedi left alive are cowards or mad,” Leia said.

“That’s an assumption,” Luke pointed out.

“Perhaps,” Leia said. “But our Father and his Inquisitors have hunted them for years now. To avoid both of them—”

“That Padawan managed to evade them,” Luke pointed out.

“Yes, but he still _died_ ,” Leia said. “Maybe not at their hands, but any Jedi left must be in such deep hiding they don’t want to be found or—”

“Why do you think they would be mad?” Luke asked, curious as he watched Biggs skirt the entire hanger to avoid them. He stopped, leaning against the crate he had been pushing into the ship and arched a brow at his sister who looked back at him impassively. “Really?”

“You were already feeling affectionate toward him.”

“Affectionate?” Luke asked. “He introduced himself. Once. That hardly puts him into my affections. You’re too wary.”

“And you’re too likely to find yourself enmeshed with someone,” Leia said.

“This isn’t like,” Luke started and stopped. “Like that at all. We’re here now, sister. We might as well integrate ourselves.” Leia made a disgusted noise. “And besides, mad Jedi?”

“Why wouldn’t they have gone mad?” Leia asked. “Losing the war, their companions, their home, themselves? Being hunted for decades after being betrayed by those they sacrificed everything so foolishly for? If they survived, why wouldn’t they have gone mad?”

“So what do you think this one will be?” Luke asked, easy, as he started shoving the crate back up. “Mad or a coward?”

“Well, he could always be both,” Leia said blandly.

-0-

Obi-Wan had watched the ship come streaking down out of the sky, had watched it land not too far away. Imperial, he thought, making sure his lightsaber was within reach before going back to his meditations.

There was no reason for anyone to be looking for him, and if some fools crashed by accident into the desert, chances are they wouldn’t even find his hut.

He could, he supposed, make sure they were alright and point them in the direction of the nearest port but he would rather avoid any Imperials, even the ones that would never recognize him. Instead he went back to his mediations, reaching deep into the Force and feeling his way out again.

He jerked all at once back to awareness when someone rapped on his door.

That made no sense, he though, because there was no presence on the other side of the door. Even droids left some mark on the Force.

Lightsaber flying into his hand, he approached the door, opening it. “And what can an old man do for—” He was surprised he got that far into the sentence, considering the three beings standing on his doorstep. His words trailed off as he found himself only staring.

Before him, completely cloaked from the Force stood the children of Anakin Skywalker, wearing basic clothing instead of Sith robes, but with their eyes glowing yellow and lightsabers at their sides. And at their side was Artoo-Detoo, who whistled a greeting at him.

“So what do you think, sister?” the boy asked, glib. “Coward or mad?”

“Now that we’ve seen him, I’m definitely going with coward,” the girl said, arms crossed over her chest and Obi-Wan wanted to sink to his knees, because seeing them in person was completely different from holovids. Nothing had prepared him for the lilt of their voices, the way they were so clearly the children of Anakin Skywalker and Padme Amidala.

Instead he braced his hand on the doorframe and took a breath. “Perhaps I am neither,” he said, proud because his voice did not shake. “But what do the children of Darth Vader wish of me?”

“Well,” the boy said and the girl looked only more annoyed. “It has been demanded that we ask you to train us.”

“What?” Obi-Wan managed. “How did you even—”

“By Bail Organa,” the boy continued.

Obi-Wan could only stare.

“What?” he managed at last, feeling like the ground had been pulled out from underneath him, though the sands of Tatoonie where what they ever were, with twin suns pounding down from a clear blue sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I feel like Obi-Wan could best be described as the Mincing Mockingbird saying ["Finally he gathered himself together and spoke. What the _hell_?"](https://img.etsystatic.com/il/de2dfd/685828054/il_570xN.685828054_b3j1.jpg?version=0)


End file.
